LITTLE Shannon Matthews, once lost, now found, was clearly not a happy child.

And I find myself wondering if her present home - a mother with seven children by five different men, a lover a decade younger and goofy-looking, an extended family with complex relationships -will ever be a suitable environment for a child said to be timid and shy.

We all felt relief when this mite was found, but her background, a scenario that encompasses the awful, dispiriting and undisciplined face of Britain, should be read as a lesson in failure.

Karen Matthews, 32 but looking 60, glib hair falling across a greasy face, is the product of a society which rewards fecklessness.

I hope that young Shannon never returns to such a mental and spiritual squalor. What chance is there for her with such role models?